


In Our Line of Work

by wandrinparakeet



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Fanmix, Ficmix, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2012-11-19
Packaged: 2017-12-14 17:50:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/839668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandrinparakeet/pseuds/wandrinparakeet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A ficmix for linckia blue's In Our Line of Work</p><p>15 songs plus liner notes plus cover image</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Our Line of Work

**Author's Note:**

  * For [enjambament](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjambament/gifts).
  * Inspired by [In Our Line of Work](https://archiveofourown.org/works/476912) by [enjambament](https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjambament/pseuds/enjambament). 



**In Our Like of Work**  
A ficmix for Fee's Inception story In Our Line of Work

15 songs plus liner notes plus cover image

Liner Notes

 **Escape Artist**  
Zoe Keating  
“For Eames, Monday night was the night Arthur died. For Arthur it was the night he woke up.”  
One of the things that I feel often gets ignored in film mixes is the power of instrumental music, which of course is vital to any film (and certainly is in Inception, as much as we mock it.)  This piece, by the extraordinary Zoe Keating, is my score for the sequence of Arthur waking up and getting out.  
  
**Hello, Time Bomb**  
Matthew Good Band  
“Arthur met Eames when he was twenty-one. He was angry back then.”  
I love how we get to know both characters as their younger selves, and how seamlessly they become the characters we met in the film.    
  
**Remain Nameless**  
Florence + the Machine  
“Whatever you see in me that made you understand I’m a different person today than I was yesterday – remember it.”  
Florence does seem to have a strong place in mixes, given the emotional depth of her lyrics, and in this case, I really wanted a song that would embody the difficulty and perseverance it would take to rebuild Arthur’s reputation and status.  
  
**Think Harder**  
Sneaker Pimps  
“I’m saying what happened to me was worse.”  
This whole story is, for me, a perfect balance of action and yearning -- apparently that’s my go to combination of elements for a favorite fic.  I wanted to be sure to get the action in there.  A lot of it is Arthur planning, and proving himself, but I love the suspense.  
  
**The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game**  
Massive Attack with Tracey Thorn  
“‘I love you,’ Arthur said to Eames, because it was true and Arthur was more afraid that it wouldn’t be real if he never said the words out loud.  
Only, none of that ever happened.”  
I’ve always appreciated the fact that Arthur and Eames would kind of grudgingly fall for each other.  They’re both fine with casual, but as in this story, it takes them a good while to get to trust and love.  
  
**Sleep Alone**  
Bat for Lashes  
“It was enough for a tiny, dangerous spark of hope.”  
This song and the next are kind of my scores for the two of them alone, hopelessly wishing for the other.   Thus, it’s not so much a specific scene, but an image of waiting, and not patiently, for reunion.  
  
**Prison Girls**  
Neko Case  
“No, Arthur. You really have to find him. After you died in the dream, he totally lost it. It was bad.”  
Ok, so this is almost like a deleted scene in my head?  We don’t get Eames’s point of view, but my brain makes me a movie reel from words, and so.  This.  This is Eames, hunting Arthur’s killers down, taking bad jobs, and all the while just unable to deal with his loss.  To me, he’s the one stuck in a dim hotel, and can’t get it together even to go to a dream den, braying drunkenly about what’s missing.  “I love your long shadows and your gunpowder eyes” is all about Arthur.  
  
**A Bad Dream**  
Keane  
“It was like losing a brother without being allowed to grieve.”  
The gaps between the dream and the real world, the world Arthur has to accept as reality, are constantly sharp and painful when he least expects it.  Finding Mal, but losing Cobb.  
  
**Poison & Wine**  
The Civil Wars  
“In all honesty, Arthur would go through worse than hurt if it meant he found Eames.”  
And now the mournful love songs.  I often come late to music that everyone else has known about for years, as I don’t listen to the radio at all any more, but boy am I glad I discovered The Civil Wars.  This song breaks my heart, but also feels so very true and determinedly hopeful.  
  
**Love is Blindness**  
U2  
“I was the guy, Clark. I was the fucking guy.”  
I love how the sequence of this story forces Arthur to confront all of the ways he needs Eames, has always needed Eames, and the towering regret that he might never get to fix the underlying issue from the fight.  
  
**Relax My Beloved**  
Alex Clare  
“Arthur’s lungs were filling up with blood too quickly to say anything but he tried anyway, to say I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said it like that. The words came out as a trickle of red blood instead.”  
This song is for the fight, and for the warring emotions of anger and desperation to keep things as they are.  
  
**Dark Paradise**  
Lana del Rey  
“Even as Arthur blinked, and Eames was there instead of the woman, abruptly, his voice smooth and low and quiet like Arthur remembered it but better.”  
This is partly Eames point of view, but also Arthur’s, in those moments of trying to uncover what’s real, and to convince Eames that he is, in fact, alive.  
  
**Please**  
Lamb  
“Arthur experienced the curious sensation of having his heart broken and remade at the same time.”  
The tentativeness, and the tenderness, of realizing that they’ve found each other.  Breaks my heart, every time.  
  
**Sing**  
Jars of Clay  
“‘Jesus Christ,’ Eames laughed, turning to him as he shoved his gun into his waistband. ‘I’m still so fucking happy.’”  
I hope this song pretty much explains itself.  
  
**Happy Endings**  
Better Than Ezra  
“An extra ten years of you.”  
And then, that wonderful final scene.  So glorious, after all that trauma.  So ordinary, but yet so necessary.  Happy sigh.

[Listen](http://ge.tt/6Qre2cb/v/0) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/nfntrobin/playlist/1frgQnrFEuttmM5yKiwG1F)

**Author's Note:**

> I had intended to get this mix made for the two year anniversary...but obviously that didn’t happen quite on schedule. Still, of all of the many Inception fics I love, and I love many, this story is the one I go back to again and again.
> 
> It actually took me a long time to pull this mix together, as a fan letter to the story and the author, simply because I wasn’t sure I could do it justice. I hope I have, here, and I hope all you listeners out there enjoy it!
> 
> Join me over at my [tumblr](http://wandrinparakeet.tumblr.com/).


End file.
